Scaling The Wall

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 in mustangs, practice by Jacob

Yesterday’s practice was a good one for myself as well.  I’d felt as though I’d hit a wall the last few times I’d thrown the ball, the velocity was there, but my control wasn’t.  I’ve been trying to add more backside drive when coming down the mound, sometimes this changes the plane of my shoulders and I miss my target.  It’s a small adjustment, and I fell I put it together for a few pitches yesterday.

It’s tough working on things when you’re simultaneously trying to make an impression on your new teammates.  I’ve thrown so many bullpens this off-season that if I don’t have a specific thing to work on, I find myself not able to really “lock in”… but I think that will be easily remedied by having some opposition.  I’m the kind of pitcher who needs to get some guys out before I can start to show my leadership on the mound.  Two scrimmage innings on Sunday is the next step in that direction.

The Adams division is an interesting situation.  With only six teams, we are going to play each other four times…  which paves the way for some intense rivalry and revenge opportunities.  Our scrimmage Sunday is against division opponents, but it’s the pre-season.  I’ll be curious to see if the turnout justifies actually playing, hopefully eighteen guys show.  I’m also anxious to see how intense the gamesmanship is.  Many of these guys know each other, so it will be interesting to see how hard people play in the spring muck.

Our team is taking shape, I really like the quality of ballplayers Rob has assembled.  We’re deep at just about every position, even catcher.  Competition from within combined with a good practice regimen…  Sounds like the perfect approach to the season.

Tuesday’s Practice

Posted on April 1st, 2008 in mustangs, practice by Kyle

More people showed up to tonight’s practice, about nine altogether. We had the two guys there from the previously mentioned post, who ended up falling to us in the draft. Both of them can throw pretty well, but one is pretty raw (never pitched in HS) and the other just needs some more time on the mound. I would imagine that both should become pitchers on the team, as they definitely have the ability and both seem to want to work hard, which fits in with the team’s philosophy.

Rob reaffirmed the notion that no positions or spots in the lineup are completely spoken for, which is just how I like it. Despite the fact that I was told that I’ll be batting in the middle of the lineup, pitching, and possibly playing 2b on my days off, I never take anything for granted anymore. I welcome the competition (both of the new guys can hit and one looks to be a good infielder) and like the chance to compete for the shortstop position as well! I do prefer playing second base, but if my bat and glove carry me on the left side of the infield, that’s where I’ll play.

I feel like I had a great session all around today. I hit well, I fielded plenty of balls cleanly and made mostly good throws, and my breaking ball is getting more consistent now that I’ve taken a bit off and switched to the two-seam grip. A big dilemma for me is the fact that I throw so much more consistently and with more velocity from the pseudo-traditional windup and drop-step delivery that Marshall teaches, but I’m not sure what umpires are going to say. It’s a completely legal delivery and fits well within the rules of MLB and our league, but that might not necessarily fly. I plan on throwing using those mechanics in the Sunday scrimmage; we’ll see how the Bulls like it (I’m sure they won’t).

Tomorrow I’ll be holding optional BP for the HS team, and I’ll probably throw some to the catcher there as well as long as my arm’s not too sore. After stopping the heavy-duty wrist weights/iron ball/lifting program, my arm is feeling better than ever and I daresay at 100%. I’m going to start cutting weight, which is what I wanted to do earlier, but didn’t want to run a caloric deficit while on the serious workout plan. I learned the hard way last year that cutting calories while on such a program can seriously deplete muscle mass and inhibit recovery on my arm.

Saturday’s Practice, Hitting

Posted on March 30th, 2008 in practice, working out, goals by Kyle

Saturday came and went without a scrimmage due to the poor weather (snow on Friday, bleh), but we had a small practice. It was good to get outside, hit some balls, and field a few grounders. I’m always up for practicing and getting more work in, and I’m genuinely surprised at the number of people who aren’t. Yes, I know I have a very flexible schedule since I’m self-employed, but on weekday nights and weekends, there’s little excuse not to get some work in.

Anyway, I hit a ball off Jacob that I thought for sure went out, but my teammates said it bounced off the warning track before going over the fence. Bah. Maybe with a dry ball and a warm day it would have sailed out; either way, I’m not too concerned, as the power is there. One thing I need to do is to develop a more consistent swing and approach at the plate. To that end, I hit three buckets’ worth of balls (about 200 total) today outside and at Arena Sports by myself, since I couldn’t get in touch with anyone who wanted to hit on a beautiful Sunday afternoon/evening. I am getting the four stages of the swing down pretty well, but I have a nagging suspicion that I’m introducing a bit of bat drag in my swing, something that’s always a concern when I hit too much off a tee or soft toss. Nothing can replace live pitching, since when my swing gets a bit long, facing live pitching always exposes the holes. I might swing by Strike-Zone tomorrow afternoon and hit 200 pitches out of the machine since there’s no HS practice due to spring break. I haven’t hit off a machine in a long time, especially the Iron Mike variety, which is as close to live pitching as you’re going to get out of a mechanical arm. Hopefully I’ll drag my video camera down there and finally get some tape. With any luck, there will be a HS kid to catch me a bit so I can tape that as well, though I’m less concerned with my throwing action.

Rob, my manager (also a faithful reader of this blog, Hi Rob!), is batting me third or fourth in the lineup, as I’ve said before. Most people would be thrilled, and I am, but I see this as a challenge within an opportunity. There are plenty of guys on the Mustangs who can hit, and I can easily remember two years back when I was struggling to make contact with BP fastballs in the NABA league. I spent full games on the bench and never really earned the trust of Zane on the Mariners, which drove me to work as hard as I did in the offseason to become the best hitter I could be. Personally, I feel like I have miles to go before I am content with my swing, and that’s the way I like it. I know that I have plenty of untapped power in my body built up from heavy lifting, and I strive to get better with every passing day.

Two years ago, I wrote in my personal blog that I wouldn’t stop working hard, and I’m happy to report that I’ve fulfilled that promise so far. That being said, complacency is the enemy of progress, and I am always pressing myself to improve. I really do believe that I have the talent at the plate to play at the Olympic level and beyond; I think I can be good enough to play independent league baseball if I work my ass off. I’ll never be great in the field, but I know I can hit well enough to get me in a lineup somewhere.

Tuesday’s Practice, Hitting Progress

Posted on March 26th, 2008 in mustangs, practice by Kyle

Some of the Mustangs were in attendance, mostly the usual suspects. Rob had two tryout players at the practice to further evaluate them for the draft on Saturday - one of them is an outfielder, not sure on the other one. Either way, both seemed like they’d be a good fit on the team - one of them can throw pretty hard as a pitcher, and the other can hit pretty well. We’ll see how it turns out on draft day.

I threw from the mound a bit, but after throwing so much BP and not warming up adequately, it wasn’t too impressive. I switched to my old two-seam curve grip that I used a few months ago when I couldn’t figure out the standard curve grip; I got the idea from a Baseball America profile on an up-and-coming pitcher in the Orioles organization (can’t remember who, though).

Still mashing the ball pretty good, though. I’m going to hit on Wednesday night with Vinny to get a few more hacks in as well as a videotaped session (both pitching and hitting). Rob says that he plans to hit me 3rd or 4th in the lineup, which I was very happy with! I love hitting in the middle of the lineup, and though I really like hitting 2nd, it’s definitely an honor to hit cleanup. Steve and I are the early frontrunners in those spots, with Jason (our shortstop) leading off, as I assume Rob is trying to find a good left-handed bat to hit 2nd. In the early workouts and practices that we’ve had, both Steve and I have the most power on the team, so it does make sense. I’d say at this point Steve is a better overall hitter than me. Checking his stats from last year, it looks like he batted .465/.581/.651, which is pretty sick, even considering Rocky-level pitching. I think an OPS of 1.200 is achievable, but would be pretty damn difficult this year, since we’re facing tougher pitching and defenses.

I feel that I should have no problem in out-producing last year’s stats, which over all the leagues I played in, were:

.300/.380/.410 over 113 PA / 100 AB
30 H, 9 2b, 1 3b, 12 RBI, 14 R, 8 SB, 8 K, 9 BB, 4 HBP

I was hitting .410 going into the last two weeks of the season, where I just slumped. It sucked. I think a reasonable projection for me this year over 120 PA would be:

.400/.470/.600

I will definitely hit at least two home runs this year; there’s pretty much no way to avoid it. I hit at least four warning track shots at larger fields, and I’m worlds better as a hitter now. I still want to steal 10 bases this year, but it’ll be tough with Steve batting ahead of me and clogging the bases!

Robbie has had insane improvement after getting a few lessons at Big League Edge down in Auburn, so I might check it out as well. I’d love to be throwing 8 MPH faster than I am right now, since that’d put me right around the 80 MPH mark.

Time to get some late-night work done before the Oakland/Boston game. Go Rich Harden!